Described as ‘France’s powerful European Commissioner’, the EU bureaucrat who lectured Elon Musk about online censorship has resigned suddenly.
Thierry Breton ironically posted the notice on X.
I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my colleagues in the College, Commission services, MEPs, Member States, and my team.
Together, we have worked tirelessly to advance an ambitious EU agenda.
It has been an honour & privilege to serve the common European interest?? pic.twitter.com/wQ4eeHUnYu
— Thierry Breton (@ThierryBreton) September 16, 2024
‘…in light of these latest developments – further testimony to questionable governance – I have to conclude that I can no longer exercise my duties in the College.’
They are not memorable words likely to creep into a Hollywood script.
According to reports, his departure relates to a disagreement with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
Despite serving as the EU internal market chief, Breton has been critical of the new President.
Breton’s name was put forward by French President Macron for the new EU team, but it seems Ursula von der Leyen wasn’t keen on the idea and asked for France to rethink their submission.
‘…you asked France to withdraw my name…’ Breton wrote in his letter.
?Breaking news:
My official portrait for the next European Commission term pic.twitter.com/BolWcdYiPU
— Thierry Breton (@ThierryBreton) September 16, 2024
Breton served between 2019-24 during which time he oversaw the single market, ‘led the green and digital transition’, ensured ‘climate neutrality by 2050’, enhanced Europe’s ‘digital sovereignty’, led the ‘Digital Services Act’, strengthened EU tools to ‘counter disinformation and fake information online while preserving freedom of expression, freedom of press, and media pluralism’, and implemented the ‘European Defence Fund’ and ‘Action Plan on Military Mobility’ – among other things.
Keep in mind that he has been one of the most influential people in Brussels and a household name in the debate over free speech on digital platforms such as Facebook and X.
Time even put him on their top 100 people working in the field of AI.
Deal!#AIAct pic.twitter.com/UwNoqmEHt5
— Thierry Breton (@ThierryBreton) December 8, 2023
His loss is likely to be social media’s gain, with many wondering if this is a sign that attitudes toward digital platforms like X might be changing.
In July, this publication covered the online antagonism between Elon Musk and Thierry Breton.
Musk made headlines when he accused the European Commission of offering X a ‘secret deal’ regarding censorship (denied by the Commission). He then referred to the EU’s Digital Services Act as ‘misinformation’.
This disagreement has been brewing for a long time and before either man entered the scene.
The EU, among other bureaucracies and government entities, has been rapidly losing control of political communication with the rise of citizen journalism and unbound speech on a range of social media platforms. This has replaced the more tightly controlled mainstream media outlets in radio, television, and print.
Not only has social media elevated billions of voices, empowering them to speak directly to their elected officials, it has seen the largest and fastest rise of citizen journalism in history. These are skilled individuals working outside of the ideological umbrella provided by news organisations meaning that governments cannot coerce or silence these individuals by doing deals with their editors. They do not have editors. For those entities that value order and control, this is an unmitigated nightmare.
Silicon Valley was, for a time, softly controlled by the personal left-leanings of its various owners until Elon Musk bought Twitter and broke ideological ranks. At this point, the veil of subtle control shifted to rapid legislative controls which are ongoing to this day.
In the case of Thierry Breton, there was a very public disagreement about X’s use of ‘blue checkmarks’.
Back in the day, #BlueChecks used to mean trustworthy sources of information?
Now with X, our preliminary view is that:
They deceive users
They infrige #DSA
X has now the right of defence —but if our view is confirmed we will impose fines & require significant changes. pic.twitter.com/M9tGA5pYQr
— Thierry Breton (@ThierryBreton) July 12, 2024
In response, Musk wrote: ‘We look forward to the very public battle in court, so that the people of Europe can know the truth.’
Breton replied, ‘Be our guest, Elon Musk.’
With great audience comes greater responsibility #DSA
As there is a risk of amplification of potentially harmful content in ?? in connection with events with major audience around the world, I sent this letter to @elonmusk
— Thierry Breton (@ThierryBreton) August 12, 2024
It is more likely that the European Commissioner will be remembered for the (above) letter sent to Elon Musk regarding the live broadcast of Donald Trump’s interview.
His letter is worth remembering as it effectively documented the EU having an opinion about the free and live transmission of US politics. The world now waits to see what the next governance of the EU will look like and which way it decides to lean.